Hajja Salesjana April-June 2021

THE POWER OF LOVE THE MESSAGE OF THE RECTOR MAJOR DON ÁNGEL FERNÁNDEZ ARTIME 26 H AJJA S ALESJANA Live more and better at all times by LOVING – but truly loving, as they say colloquially, “until it hurts.” This reflection is attributed to Mother Teresa of Calcutta: Wh e r e v e r you go, spread love: first of all in your own home. Shower love on your sons and daughters, your wife or your husband, your next-door neighbor. Do not let anyone ever come to you without leaving feeling better and happier. Be the living expression of God's goodness – goodness in your face, goodness in your eyes, goodness in your smile, goodness in your warm greeting. There is no doubt that this is a simple and yet very specific program. Pope Benedict XVI offered it to us at the time as his first Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love). It is a love that we have received and have met in our personal encounter with Christ. Pope Benedict tells us in his encyclical that it is: a love “that gives a horizon to life (…). The passion of God for each one of us is made concrete in a personal Love – a Love that is predilection and that gives meaning to our existence. God loves Man and every human being, and His love becomes visible on the faces of those with whom we live.” During a reflective moment I thought about how indescribable and unique God’s Love is. It creates peace and tranquility. If our little human experiences of love have enough strength to change people's lives – a change that when it is a product of love always lifts up, always helps one get up, always “elevates’ – and always launches forward to help one “get How indescribable and unique is God’s Love. It creates peace and tranquility. If our little human experiences of love have enough strength to change people’s lives – then how immense His Love must be! Photo by Naassom Azevedo from ww.unsplash.com